Bacterial DNA, but not vertebrate DNA, has direct immunostimulatory effects on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in vitro (Krieg et al., 1995). This lymphocyte activation is due to unmethylated CpG dinucleotides, which are present at the expected frequency in bacterial DNA ( 1/16), but are under-represented (CpG suppression, 1/50 to 1/60) and methylated in vertebrate DNA. Activation may also be triggered by addition of synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) that contain an unmethylated CpG dinucleotide in a particular sequence context. It appears likely that the rapid immune activation in response to CpG DNA may have evolved as one component of the innate immune defense mechanisms that recognize structural patterns specific to microbial molecules.
CpG DNA induces proliferation of almost all (>95%) B cells and increases immunoglobulin (Ig) secretion. This B cell activation by CpG DNA is T cell independent and antigen non-specific. However, B cell activation by low concentrations of CpG DNA has strong synergy with signals delivered through the B cell antigen receptor for both B cell proliferation and Ig secretion (Krieg et al., 1995). This strong synergy between the B cell signaling pathways triggered through the B cell antigen receptor and by CpG DNA promotes antigen specific immune responses. In addition to its direct effects on B cells, CpG DNA also directly activates monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells to secrete a variety of cytokines, including high levels of IL-12 (Klinman et al., 1996; Halpern et al., 1996; Cowdery et al., 1996). These cytokines stimulate natural killer (NK) cells to secrete gamma-interferon (IFN- −) and have increased lytic activity (Klinman et al., 1996, supra; Cowdery et al., 1996, supra; Yamamoto et al., 1992; Ballas et al., 1996). Overall, CpG DNA induces a Th1 like pattern of cytokine production dominated by IL-12 and IFN-γ with little secretion of Th2 cytokines (Klinman et al., 1996).
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) poses a serious world-wide health problem. The current HBV vaccines are subunit vaccines containing particles of HBV envelope protein(s) which include several B and T cell epitopes known collectively as HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). The HBsAg particles may be purified from the plasma of chronically infected individuals or more commonly are produced as recombinant proteins. These vaccines induce antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBs), which confer protection if present in titers of at least 10 milli-International Units per milliliter (mIU/ml) (Ellis, 1993). The current subunit vaccines whch contain alum (a Th2 adjuvant), are safe and generally efficacious. They, however, fail to meet all current vaccination needs. For example, early vaccination of infants born to chronically infected mothers, as well as others in endemic areas, drastically reduces the rate of infection, but a significant proportion of these babies will still become chronically infected themselves (Lee et al., 1989; Chen et al., 1996). This could possibly be reduced if high titers of anti-HBs antibodies could be induced earlier and if there were HBV-specific CTL. In addition, there are certain individuals who fail to respond (non-responders) or do not attain protective levels of immunity (hypo-responders). Finally, there is an urgent need for an effective treatment for the estimated 350 million chronic carriers of HBV and a therapeutic vaccine could meet this need.